Since the first movable head disc file was manufactured in quantity in the late 1950s, air lubricated slider bearings have been used to house and position the magnetic transducer over a spinning disc for data recording. The film of air that moves with the spinning disc serves to support the head at a predetermined fixed distance above the disc surface. A desired characteristic of a slider bearing used to support such a head is that only small variations in flying height result as the slider is accessed to different radial locations over the disc surface. As the flying height varies, different magnitudes of write current may become necessary to obtain an essentially constant signal amplitude in the recorded data. If the head to disc spacing is maintained nearly constant, compensation of the write current is not necessary. However, the relative speed between the head and the recording surface varies as the head is moved radially across the disc surface, since for any selected revolutions per minute, those surface portions located at greater radii from the center are moving much faster than those nearer the center. Thus, the film of air on which the head rides also varies in speed and possibly in thickness.
In recent years the trend has been towards reducing the flying height of the head. Such is necessary to increase the recording density of the data. Naturally, the reduction in spacing between the head and recording surface increases the chances for head crashes thereby requiring more precision in the control of the flying height of the head. To compensate for the lower flying height, therefore, stiffer air bearings have been designed to provide improved stability. Concurrent with this trend has been the use of smaller low mass sliders that start and stop in contact with the disc surface. This requires that only a small load force be applied to the slider in order to minimize wear to the magnetic surface of the disc.
One of the more current slider bearing design concepts involves two rails separated by a relieved section capable of dynamically generating a partial vacuum, thereby eliminating or reducing the need of an external loading force. An example of such an assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,625 entitled Magnetic Head Slider Assembly issued on Dec. 17, 1974 with Garnier et al as inventors. Such a slider bearing is composed of two rails separated by a relieved section with each rail having a taper flat configuration. The taper flat serves to pressurize the lubricant i.e. air, and the slider is supported by the distributed load carried by the thin air film. The relieved section produces a vacuum suction force which counter-balances the load caused by the taper flat configuration of the two rails. The slider is mounted on a gimbaled flexure suspension, which provides multiple degrees of freedom for excursion of the assembly. Typically, the magnetic transducer is mounted at the trailing edge of one slider rail.
The type of slider disclosed in this patent is generally known as a "zero load" slider. The "zero load" slider exhibits the characteristics of both a low static load and a high air bearing stiffness rendering distinct advantages in maintaining a constant spacing with the disc surface while presenting low contact forces when resting on the disc surface. However, the "zero load" slider by virtue of its relieved section for producing vacuum suction forces, does require extra fabrication processes such as etching and the materials necessary for manufacture of the slider assembly have made control of these processes difficult. Thus, because of rejection rates and other reasons, such a slider assembly has been made more expensive.
It is the purpose of the present invention to provide an improved design and method for manufacturing a "zero load" slider of the type discussed above.